July 30, 2005

Here is a truly amazing flikr photo set. Not for the squeamish (pat!) this guy photo documents the removal of his brain tumor. Okay, the doc’s assistant did the bit when he was on the table, but it’s amazing nonetheless. The comment section is particularly interesting.

Again, it’s gruesome, but the gent turned out okay and all is well. Interesting stuff for the strong stomached.

It was the Sunday paper insert that got me. I was looking through the Dallas Morning News that Pat and Lydia left this weekend when I saw it: Burnout 3- Takedown has reached the 1 million sales mark. What does this mean? Well, it instantly becomes a PS2 “classic” and goes on permanent sale at $19.99. Erin got a kick out of my reaction when I saw it. (in my best gee-whiz little boy voice) “Burnout 3: Takedown! It’s on sale!” You had to be there, but it put Erin into a fit of laughter to realize she had married so far beneath her maturity level.
So naturally, she went to Target today and got it for me, bless her. 🙂
Do I have the perfect wife or what?

July 25, 2005

Erin and I took Pat and Lydia to the new Whole Foods today. Me and the wife took a detour to the cheese counter and spent a good 15 minutes talking to the “Cheesemonger” there about various cheeses. I love talking to someone who knows their stuff and who loves their area of expertise. You could tell this guy loves cheese and knows the history, flavor, and nuances of the vast number of cheeses at his counter.

I like cheese a lot, but I’ve always been averse to the really pungent, mold-marbled varieties you often see. You know, the ones that look like they’ve been left at the back of a college student’s fridge for a few semesters. In talking with this guy, though, I decided to be a foodie and try some. “Can I taste your moldiest cheese?” says I. You should have seen the light in his face.

I don’t know what kind of cheese it was, and he said he gave us something that was a good beginner cheese, but this thing was absolutely covered in white penicillin roquforti bacteria. It had a soft, spongy white covering of squishy mold about 1/8″ thick. He was sure to cut off a chunk of that as well as the underlying cheese for us to try.

I have to say, while it wasn’t my favorite, I was surprised that my body didn’t instantly reject it in a fit of gagging. Erin managed to get a few bites down as well, bless her.

We moved on to a really marbled Bleu Cheese. It was way too strong for me, but the different types we tried had definite flavor variations.

Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell. A great business book about improving your customer service by treating your customers like friends, and not just like meal tickets. I’m pleased to say that I do many of the things in this book already. I’ve always been a pretty gregarious businessperson, and seem to be able to naturally turn many of my customers into friends. It doesn’t hurt that I do something I’m pretty good at and that I love. People can tell when your heart is in it.
Business really is all about relationships, and this book is a good place to learn why.